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Topic: Devant 32CL900 LCD TV Review (Read 69506 times)

First of all, i am neither a Devant sales agent, nor a salesman of some appliance store... I'm just a normal consumer like most of you... Disclaimer?

I just recently went shopping for an LCD TV that should fit my budget of around P19K-P21K. A 32" inch LCD TV is just the right size for this budget. Also, I have many considerations in mind: it should be of good quality with generous features, but it should also be cheap--giving me the best value for my money.

At first, I thought buying in malls is a no-no since gray market vendors are the thing these days, for they can sell items at mostly half the mall price. But upon comparing their prices, I am surprised that mall prices too are competitive now.

So I went into some forums and researched on which mall store can offer me the best deal. Upon reading further, I discovered that one is Anson's Trinoma--some forumers say that it's a kind of store where you can "haggle" even if it is a 'mall store'--just like buying in Divisoria or tiangge. Sir Vic's "Sights & Sounds" in Shangrila is another, with prices that are hard to beat, but too bad it's too far from my place already.

After reading a couple of reviews, i'm initially sold to getting the Panasonic L32C10X--with decent PQ, 2x HDMI, VGA input port, plus an SD card reader for viewing pictures. But upon getting into the showroom, the tides suddenly changed... Well, I guess you know what product I ended up with.

Enough talk and let's get into the review. Let's start with a quick peek on its specs (taken from the brochure):

(Sorry for the plastic wrapping, it's fairly new kasi. Photos are unedited, just resized.)

PRICE: Php 21,000(SRP for the 'TV only' is P24,950, less P2,500 for straight payment discount, less "Anson's discount". The DVD is priced at P0.00 at the receipt since it's a free item.)

PICTURE QUALITYThe contrast ratio is quite small, but surprisingly, the picture quality is very good! I got satisfied with the picture quality 'out-of-the-box' that I didn't even bother tinkering with the picture settings anymore. The colors are rich & vivid, and the black is black but doesn't lose details caused by very deep blacks compared to other hi-end LCDs. Response time is pretty good in movies, but I would still need to test its speed in video games.

One of the most surprising feature of this LCD TV is the viewing angle! They call their technology "Superior Clear Panel". I won't just say this in words, I want to prove it by showing you some pictures. The specs doesn't lie!:

No washing away of colors, nor darkening!

Vertical angle - top view at approximately 175 degrees +/-

Horizontal angle - side view at approximately 175 degrees +/-(Note: The vases are reflecting on the screen)

SOUNDAnother surprising feature is the built-in bottom speakers. The brochure says that the speakers are just 5watts x 2, but in television mode, the sound is surprisingly very loud & crisp even at low volume. When watching movies via the HDMI connection, you'll get a weaker sound though (that's expected due to dynamic range). You can either turn up the volume, or you can purchase better speakers with dedicated amplifiers--the recommended choice.

TV MODETV reception is fair to good considering that I only used an 'indoor' Greentek antenna (without booster). I would also like to try out the 'booster-type' indoor antennas once I get to purchase one (i'm eyeing for the Greentek brand). But you will get the best reception if you will use the Baron-type outdoor antennas (as indicated in the manual). If none of these satisfies you, then just get a cable subscription instead.

CONNECTIONSIt's got 2 HDMI ports, one on the back & one on the side... which is good for easier accessing. The USB port can read JPEG images & plays MP3s, they call it 'DMP', it stands for Digital Media Player, I think? The read speed when viewing photos is fair to good (depending on the size), and it can zoom the photos for panning.

The plethora of connectors, back and sides

Back connectors

Source selection(Notice the sharp upscaling, sweet!)

OTHER FEATURESThe TVs start-up time is around 8 seconds--from power button press to splash screen, and takes around 12 seconds from power button press to picture & sound start. The remote control range is very impressive, I tested it as far as 30 feet away from the TV and the remote is still working! The power consumption is rated at 130watts if everything is set to maximum.

The sleek side-panel 'touch' controls

The TV is protected by a rocker switch (iwas sunog )

FREEBIESThe free Nextbase NB-895 is an HDMI 1080p-upscaling DVD player. It's valued at around P3,500+ in the malls if bought separately. It upscales movies very well, especially when watching those "jack sparrow" Blue-ray-sort-of DVD copies bought at tiangge, you know what I mean. It can even play DivX movies with SRT subtitles burned on a disc or via USB! and has Karaoke function too (haven't tested that yet though).

Connectors galore! Notice the player is also protected by a rocker switch.

My only complaint about this player is, the subtitles in the DivX movies only uses a plain white font (no black font lining)--so when you are viewing very bright scenes, you can hardly read the subtitles anymore. But in conventional movies (CDs, DVDs, etc.), the subtitles are normal.

It even comes with a free Nextbase brand HDMI cable (not generic), very good quality! It has gold contacts and its cable is very thick but soft... neat!

A standard, 'fixed' wall bracket is included as well--it's good when mounting the TV in the sala--with the LCD panel's very good viewing angles, there's not much to complain about--may you mount it high or low. But if you will mount the TV in the kitchen, etc., then it's recommended to purchase a 'pivoting' mount instead. The included mount is just a plain horizontal brace, and it mounts using only the two 'top' screw holes of the TV's VESA mount, while using two rubber pads for the remaining two 'bottom' screw holes. It holds the TV by hanging and is secured by two small brace screws (lock), so that the TV won't accidentally fall. If you don't want to wall mount you TV, you can always use the included swivel base, it swivels 20 degrees, left and right direction.

AFTER-SALES SUPPORTDevant is said to be designed in Singapore, but i'm not sure if their products are made in the Philippines or China (as the same with all of our daily gadgets). It is exclusively distributed by 'Techpoint Enterprise' (www.techpoint.com.ph) and their main office/service center is in Binondo. Their website is quite unupdated, so you won't see this model there. With this, i'm pretty sure that this TV is one of their latest models, if i'm not mistaken. It comes with 1-year warranty for parts and labor, and they even offer free home service (the salesman told me that you'll just have to pay for their fare).

CONCLUSIONFor the price of P21K for the 'entire set'--a good 32" inch TV, with very decent picture quality, impressive viewing angles, abundant connectors, plus a bonus HDMI upscaling DVD player already included--this is really a bargain!

I opted for this package a week ago, imagine 21K only!!! Includes an hdmi player w/ hdmi cable and wall mount bracket!!! Another contender for this model is the Ganzklar 32" HD ready with PIP and TCL 32". Was not actually able to compare the two side by side so I have no opinion which has a better PQ. Devant's panel was definitely a steal compared to the other more expensive brands when it comes to viewing angle.

Actually I chose LG310 because of its higher contrast ratio. Also was not able to compare Devant and LG side by side. LG's viewing angle is no match to this Devant's model. But LG's contrast ratio is 60,000:1 against Devant's 15,000:1

Were you able to compare this side by side with the 32DX850 Signature series? This one comes with a free NB-895 player + DV5130 5.1Ch speaker system. I was told that this series is their high end "LCD" next to their LED TV's.

@VenetYes sir, actually when I bought the TV, the Devant 32DX850 & the Devant 32CL900 are sitting next to each other, and I can say that they have the same picture quality since they're both using the same panel technology (as written in the brochure).

The only difference of the Devant 32DX850 is, it has PIP, SRS, 3 HDMI ports (instead of just 2), & it can play DivX movies via its USB port (not just JPEGs & MP3s), but the rest of the features are the same. Plus, the Devant "Signature Series" has a bulkier body appearance (probably because of the SRS, but same 5w x 2 speakers), which kinda turned me off.

But regarding the package of the Devant 32DX850, it comes with a FREE Devant DV-5130 5.1 channel speaker system (priced at Php9.9K+ if bought separately), and a Nextbase NB-895 HDMI player too! Anson's Trinoma is offering it to me for only Php26,500, all in! I didn't took the offer since, first, it doesn't fit my budget anymore, and second, i'm not a fan of 5.1 channel speakers (too many wires for me & tedious to set up ...'2.1' na lang! ).

This is also a great bargain considering that it already includes everything na to set up your home theater!

I'm happy na nakuha ko lang ito for free! (or, if ever naman "hindi talaga siya free", then nakamura pa din ako considering what it can do) By the way, i'm using a Kingston 16GB thumbdrive with it in playing my DivX movies, and it's working flawlessly.

Finally, I was able to test the video game capability of this baby just this morning by connecting it to my PC via the VGA port, and playing COD4 using 1024x768 resolution @ 60 FPS (frames per second) average reading using Fraps.

(Sorry for the photos, I only used a point-and-shoot camera)Note: Fraps reading of 74 FPS at the upper left corner

RESULT: Smooth panning / no shadowing or blurring of images! Very fast!

Also, I tried several other screen resolutions just to see what the outcome might look like:

1024x768 -- Good setting. Good scaling, fine images & fonts, but they appear stretched (obviously, because of 4:3 ratio)

One question though... the 'native' resolution of this Devant LCD TV is 1366x768 (16:9), but the available option on my PC's display setting is only 1360x768 (that's 6 pixels short, horizontally), that's why I can only get 'fine' fonts & images, but not 'sharp' (like in 1:1 / dot-by-dot pixel mapping) ...Is there a way for my PC to use the native resolution of the display via the VGA (analog) connection?

Sorry, you're right. It's 32CE950 ("Elite" series). Thanks for the link. Just realized that 720p is actually better than 1080i. but GOW3 looks so much better (in my opinion) running at 1080i. Because the images and menu looks smaller compared when it's running at 720p.

One question though... the 'native' resolution of this Devant LCD TV is 1366x768 (16:9), but the available option on my PC's display setting is only 1360x768 (that's 6 pixels short, horizontally), that's why I can only get 'fine' fonts & images, but not 'sharp' (like in 1:1 / dot-by-dot pixel mapping) ...Is there a way for my PC to use the native resolution of the display via the VGA (analog) connection?

I assume you're using an Nvidia board (because of the menu layout and the resolution issue). You can set a custom resolution in your display drivers.

Based on the experts here and also my "untrained" eye observation, at 32" inches, you wouldn't really notice the difference except for certain artifacts, e.g. some part of the crowd in NBA 2k10, that would look more'" "pixelized." Other than that, it should be the same.

I was looking at this brand in SM Appliance Southmall the other day - particularly, their 19"-26" LCDs. Only the 24" was connected via HDMI while the rest were composite, so naturally the PQ of the 24" was better than the others. When I learned that only the 24" among the group (19"-26") is full-HD, I requested that they also connect a HDMI connector to the 26" which is side by side with the 24". Still, the 24" had the better PQ. Im not familiar with the different series of Devant (Elite, Signature, etc.), but it seems the Elite series are all full-HD.

Here's the kicker thou - they sell the Devant 24" Elite for 15k bundled with a flat tv wall mount and a dvd player. However, the bundled dvd player doesnt have a HDMI port

im planning to buy devant xe mga sir for my xbox 360. im choosing between 32" full hd and 37" 720p only. but they are in both model categories which is the elite series. can you help me mga sir which is the best choice? i have no problem with their price because the latter is P5000 higher only than the former.

im planning to buy devant xe mga sir for my xbox 360. im choosing between 32" full hd and 37" 720p only. but they are in both model categories which is the elite series. can you help me mga sir which is the best choice? i have no problem with their price because the latter is P5000 higher only than the former.

im planning to buy devant xe mga sir for my xbox 360. im choosing between 32" full hd and 37" 720p only. but they are in both model categories which is the elite series. can you help me mga sir which is the best choice? i have no problem with their price because the latter is P5000 higher only than the former.

Carefully consider "the price" sir.

Devant is known to offer 'very good' bargains (particularly in their 32" HD Ready "Lustre" & "Signature" series) since they give you the bonus of getting 'grand' FREEBIES--from HDMI players to 5.1 channel speakers--at no extra cost!

Sad to say, Devant's Full HD "Elite" series (32" inches and above) doesn't offer such freebies. And, with that kind of budget that you have and NOT getting any freebies, i'd suggest you just opt for an LG or a Samsung instead... (I'm still not brand-biased, just call me a "freebie lover" ).